Apparatus and method for non-invasive measurement of the concentration of a substance in subjects blood

1. A method of determining the concentration of a substance in a subject's blood, the method comprising:

measuring an interaction of at least one light beam with a portion of the subject's body, the measuring of the interaction of the at least one light beam including measuring reflections of a reference light beam and of a measurement light beam from the portion of the subject's body;

calculating a value of an optically-measured parameter indicative of the interaction of the at least one light beam with the substance in the portion of the subject's body, the optically measured parameter including a reference ratio of a reflected power of the reference light beam to an incident power of the reference light beam and a measurement ratio of a reflected power of the measurement light beam to an incident power of the measurement light beam;

measuring values of one or more temperature-indicative parameters corresponding to a temperature of the portion of the subject's body, the one or more temperature-indicative parameters including both a body temperature of the subject and an ambient temperature of the subject;

accessing an empirical correlation of the optically-measured parameter and the one or more temperature-indicative parameters to concentrations of the substance in blood; and

obtaining a concentration of the substance in the subject's blood using the empirical correlation, wherein the concentration corresponds to the value of the optically-measured parameter and the values of the one or more temperature-indicative parameters.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein measuring the interaction of the at least one light beam comprises measuring an absorption of the at least one light beam by the portion of the subject's body.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein measuring the interaction of the at least one light beam comprises measuring a transmittance of the at least one light beam through the portion of the subject's body.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein measuring the interaction of the at least one light beam comprises performing raman spectroscopy on the portion of the subject's body.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the empirical correlation comprises a look-up table relating concentrations of the substance in a person's blood to values of the optically-measured parameter and of both a body temperature of the subject and an ambient temperature of the subject.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the empirical correlation comprises one or more formulae relating concentrations of the substance in a person's blood to values of the optically-measured parameter and of both a body temperature of the subject and an ambient temperature of the subject.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein measuring values of the one or more temperature-indicative parameters is performed non-invasively.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the measurement light beam exhibits a wavelength in a range between about 920 nanometers and about 980 nanometers, which is absorbed by the substance, and the reference light beam exhibits a wavelength in a range between about 800 nanometers and about 905 nanometers, which is not substantially absorbed by the substance.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising a method of determining the empirical correlation of the concentration of the substance in a person's blood with a plurality of parameters, the further method including:

invasively measuring values of the concentration of the substance in the blood of a plurality of people at a plurality of conditions, the plurality of people statistically representative of a larger population of people;

non-invasively optically measuring values of a parameter from the plurality of people at the plurality of conditions, wherein the value of the optically-measured parameter measured from a portion of a person's body is indicative of the concentration of the substance in the person's blood;

measuring values of one or more temperature-indicative parameters for the plurality of people at the plurality of conditions, the one or more temperature-indicative parameters corresponding to a temperature of the portion of the person's body;

generating the empirical correlation by correlating the measured values of the optically-measured parameter and the measured values of the one or more temperature-indicative parameters to the measured values of the concentration of the substance in the blood of the plurality of people.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein invasively measuring values of the concentration of the substance in blood comprises measuring glucose concentration of blood samples extracted from the plurality of people.

11. The method of claim 9 , wherein the value of the optically-measured parameter measured from the portion of the person's body is indicative of an absorption of light by the portion of the person's body, a transmittance of light through the portion of the person's body, a reflection of light from the portion of the person's body, or a raman interaction of light with the portion of the person's body.

12. The method of claim 9 , wherein the one or more temperature-indicative parameters comprises at least one of a body temperature of the person and an ambient temperature of the person.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the one or more temperature-indicative parameters comprises both a body temperature of the person and an ambient temperature of the person.

14. The method of claim 9 , wherein the correlation is representative of an average individual.

15. The method of claim 9 , further comprising preparing a look-up table comprising at least a portion of the correlation.

16. The method of claim 15 , further comprising storing the look-up table in a computer-readable medium.

17. The method of claim 9 , further comprising preparing one or more formulae comprising at least a portion of the correlation.

18. The method of claim 17 , further comprising storing the formulae in a computer-readable medium.

19. The method of claim 9 , wherein measuring values of the one or more temperature-indicative parameters is performed non-invasively.

20. The method of claim 10 , wherein:

the one or more temperature-indicative parameters comprises both a body temperature of the person and an ambient temperature of the person,

non-invasively optically measuring values of the parameter from the plurality of people comprises measuring reflections of a reference light beam and of a measurement light beam from the portion of the person's body,

the optically measured parameter from the plurality of people comprises a reference ratio of a reflected power of the reference light beam to an incident power of the reference light beam and a measurement ratio of a reflected power of the measurement light beam to an incident power of the measurement light beam, and

the measurement light beam exhibits a wavelength in a range between about 920 nanometers and about 980 nanometers, which is absorbed by the glucose, and the reference light beam exhibits a wavelength in a range between about 800 nanometers and about 905 nanometers, which is not substantially absorbed by the glucose.